Saturday, October 30, 2010

A Hip Opening Workshop

The Hip Area is a mystery to me. Like, what exactly IS going on down there? Ever stepped on a yoga mat, sat down, crossed your legs and your knees kind of went "Whosh!" and shot up so high you risk hitting your chin with them? Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit here but you know what I mean. Apparently that is the result of us spending hours sitting at our desk, day in day out, and the various bits around the hip area (I am not gonna go technical here ... but look at the diagram below to get a sense of the anatomical complexity within) just either get shortened or tightened.

I actually have spent the past two years trying to open those hips but I have to say the progress has been slow. The strangest thing though is that, in certain positions, my hips are actually not THAT tight i.e. I can squat down easily with little problem. So I suspect there are other reasons why doing, say, the cross-legged Lotus Pose is so difficult for me. Maybe that's because I just have very small hips (??)

Anyway, this morning I attended this three-hour workshop that was both informative and practical. It was taught in the Indian style, that is, holding poses for a long time with limited flow between them (though we did do the sun salutation, like, 20+ times, which really warmed us up). The instructor taught us what Fexion/Extention, External Rotation/Internal Rotation, Adduction and Abduction are and took us through a series of exercises that set out to, well, exercise the various bits in the hips so they'll become less tight and more loosen.

Hopefully, one day I can do this (not so much the karate kick but lifting the leg high!) without falling flat on my face ...